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Appendix B
Measuring Temperature with Resistive Transducers
SCXI-1581 User Manual
B-16
ni.com
The effectiveness of this method depends on the matching of the current
sources. Each current source on the SCXI-1581 has an accuracy of ±0.05%.
This accuracy results in a worst-case matching of ±0.1%. As an example of
the error introduced by this mismatch, consider a 3-wire resistive sensor
with lead resistances of 10
Ω
. The worst-case mismatch results in a total
error voltage (
Ve
RL
) across the lead resistances equal to:
Ve
RL
=
±2
δ
R
L
I
EX
where
δ
is the accuracy of the individual current sources
, R
L
is the
individual lead resistance and
I
EX
is the value of the excitation current.
In this example, the voltage equates to 1
µ
V. Converting this voltage into
a resistance by dividing by
I
EX
yields a resistance of 0.01
Ω
. If this error is
associated with the lead resistance of a 3-wire 100
Ω
platinum RTD, the
resulting temperature error,
Te
RL
, is:
Te
RL
= Ve
RL
/ (0.385
I
EX
) = ±0.026 °C
In contrast, if there is no lead-resistance compensation, a temperature error
of 51.95 °C results.
Lead-Resistance Compensation Using a 3-Wire Resistive Sensor
and Two Differential Amplifiers
If the accuracy obtained by using a 3-wire device and matched current
sources is not sufficient for your application, you can eliminate the error
due to the mismatch of the current sources by using only one current source
and two differential amplifiers. The 3-wire, 2-amplifier configuration is
illustrated in Figure B-9.